Man transforming the former Masters Tuxedo building into a nurse assistant training center

A Youngstown man is transforming the former Masters Tuxedo building at 3600 Market St., on the city’s South Side, into a certified nursing-assistant training center.

The building, near Hilton Avenue, has been vacant for about 12 years and was to be demolished last year by the city before Corey Kemp of Castle Court, owner of Allied Health Training, approached city officials with plans to initially invest about $70,000 to $75,000 to rehabilitate the structure.

The city obtained ownership of the building through foreclosure in December 2010.

The city’s Design Review Committee approved Kemp’s rehabilitation plans for the location at a Tuesday meeting.

The work will take three to six months, Kemp said.

His plan is to initially renovate 5,000 square feet of the 23,690-square-foot building for a program to certify nursing assistants. In 2016, Kemp said he plans to add medical-assistant training to the structure.

The building is appraised at $80,000, and when Kemp puts in at least $80,000 worth of improvement work, the city will give him ownership of the property, said Bill D’Avignon, chairman of the Design Review Committee and director of the city’s Community Development Agency.

The improvement work includes rebuilding a wall, installing a side entrance, relocating another entrance, replacing broken windows, interior cleanup and painting the exterior.

Kemp said there are about 500 tuxedos along with hundreds of pairs of shoes inside the former Masters location. He plans to give them to an organization that can clean the items and give them away.

Angelo Pignatelli, a DRC member, praised Kemp “for taking a structure that was ready for the wrecking ball and turning it into a property that will be on the city tax roll. It would have been another vacant property if he didn’t agree to save the building.”

Don't Miss a Story

Sign up for our newsletter to receive daily news directly in your inbox.